Foreign carriers look to expand Mandalay Airport

China Eastern is also now the only foreign carrier serving Mandalay. China Eastern in Mar-2012 doubled capacity to Mandalay by up-gauging its daily Kunming-Mandalay service from Bombardier CRJ regional jets to 737-300s.
China Eastern has been quick to recognise the demand for direct services into Mandalay, which is a famous tourist town known for its temples. Mandalay’s temples are considered by some to be on the same scale of Angkor Wat, which is located in the much better known tourist town/heritage site of Siem Reap.
Several carriers are now considering following China Eastern in launching service to Mandalay, including Bangkok Airways, Thai Air Asia and new Thai Airways regional unit Thai Smile. At least one of these carriers is likely launch flights to Mandalay by year-end. New services from Mandalay from Bangkok as well as nearby Chang Mai in northern Thailand are possible. Air Mandalay previously operated between Mandalay and Chang Mai and could also be enticed to resume short-haul international routes such as Mandalay-Chang Mai.
Direct service from Mandalay to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur is also likely. Low frequency flights connecting Mandalay with popular tourist destinations in Laos and Cambodia could also be appealing as tourists visiting the Mekong region often look to combine multiple destinations.
There appears to be less interest from foreign carriers to serve Naypyitaw – at least initially. But demand for services to the new capital, created mid-last decade and still under construction, will likely increase as the city expands and as foreign investment starts to pour into Myanmar. There are already some domestic services at the airport, which opened at the end of last year. Bangkok would be the most logical first international route given the Thai capital is by far the biggest international destination from Yangon and the close ties between Myanmar and Thailand. Services to other ASEAN capitals from Naypyitaw are also a possibility.
Some foreign carriers including Bangkok Airways and Thai AirAsia also have been examining potential service to Bagan, another famous tourist site located between Yangon and Mandalay. But Bagan is currently only a domestic airport and industry sources do not expect it will be upgraded anytime soon to accommodate international services.
A combination of Mandalay and Yangon services should be sufficient at least for now to meet growing leisure demand for services to Myanmar. Typical tourist itineraries to Myanmar include Bagan but have Bagan as the middle stop between Yangon to the south and Mandalay to the north. As a result, offering tour operators the opportunity to start in Yangon and end in Mandalay or vice versa is seen as ideal while not requiring flights to Bagan. Most tourist itineraries now start and end at Yangon, forcing passengers to backtrack.